Leyte’s inflation rate drops to 0.1 percent in July 2025

Leyte’s inflation rate slowed further to 0.1 percent in July 2025, down from 0.7 percent in June and 1.1 percent in May 2025. This is the lowest inflation rate recorded in the province so far this year, compared to 4.6 percent in the same month last year. Meanwhile, the region posted a deflation of -0.2 percent in July 2025, following an inflation rate of 0.7 percent in June 2025. Among the provinces and the highly urbanized city (HUC) in the region, Eastern Samar and Tacloban City registered decreases in their inflation rates, while Northern Samar, Western Samar, Southern Leyte, and Biliran experienced deflation in July 2025.

Main Drivers Contributing to the Downward Trend of Leyte’s Inflation

The following commodity groups emerged as the main drivers to the downward trend in the July 2025 inflation rate of Leyte:

   a. Food and non-alcoholic beverages posted an inflation rate of 0.3 percent, down from 0.8 percent in the previous month. This was driven by the slower rate of increase in the prices of the following: fish and other seafood; milk, other dairy products and eggs; vegetables, tubers, plantains, cooking bananas and pulses; and ready-made food and other food products. Additionally, the decrease in the prices of fruits and nuts, as well as the faster rate of decrease in the prices of cereals and cereal products, further contributed to the lower inflation rate of this commodity group;

   b. Alcoholic beverages and tobacco recorded an inflation rate of 1.1 percent, down from 1.2 percent in the previous month. This was mainly attributed to the slower rate of increase in the prices of wine and the decrease in the prices of other non-food commodities;

   c. Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels registered a deflation of -0.1 percent, down from an inflation rate of 1.4 percent in the previous month. This was primarily driven by the faster rate of decrease in the prices of electricity and liquid fuels, as well as the the slower rate of increase in the prices of gas;

   d. Education services recorded a deflation of -0.3 percent, down from an inflation of 12.6 percent in the previous month. This was driven by the slower rate of increase in the prices of early childhood and primary education and tertiary education, as well as the decrease in the prices of secondary education; and

   e. Transport further posted a deflation of -3.0, down from a deflation of -2.7 percent in the previous month. This was attributed to the faster rate of decrease in the prices of fuels and lubricants for personal transport equipment and passenger transport by air.

In contrast, the following commodity groups recorded an increase in their respective inflation rates for the month of July 2025:

   a. Furnishings, household equipment and routine household maintenance registered an inflation rate of 1.3 percent, up from 1.2 percent in the previous month. This was driven by the increase in the prices of small household appliances, as well as the slower rate of decrease in the prices of non-motorized tools and miscellaneous accessories;

   b. Health posted an inflation rate of 0.6 percent, up from 0.5 percent in the previous month. This was primarily due to the faster rate of increase in the prices of medicines; and

   c. Recreation, sport and culture recorded an inflation rate of 1.2 percent, up from 1.1 percent in the previous month. This was caused by the faster rate of increase in the prices of stationery and drawing materials.
 

Top Three Commodities Groups Contributing to the Downward Trend of Leyte’s Inflation

The top three commodity groups contributing to the trend of July 2025 inflation of Leyte were the following:

   a. Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels with 37.6 percent share;

   b. Food and non-alcoholic beverages with 31.4 percent share; and

   c. Education services with 27.0 percent share.

On the other hand, the four (4) other major commodity groups maintained their inflation rates from their previous month’s rate:

   a. Personal care, and miscellaneous goods and services at 1.5 percent;

   b. Restaurants and accommodation services at 0.2 percent;

   c. Information and communication at 0.1 percent; and

   d. Financial services at zero percent.

In addition, clothing and footwear maintained a deflation of -0.1 percent in July 2025.

The inflation rate is the general rise in prices over a period. It indicates how fast or how slow price changes over two-time periods. Contrary to common knowledge, low inflation does not necessarily connote that prices are falling instead; it means that prices continue to increase at a slower rate.  It is a derived indicator of the Consumer Price Index (CPI).

The CPI is a measure of change in the average retail prices of goods and services commonly purchased by a particular group of people in a specific area.  The overall CPI in Leyte for July 2025 was 124.0. This implies that the average retail price of goods and services in Leyte is 24.0 percent higher than the average retail prices in 2018 (base year).

Purchasing Power of Peso (PPP) remains at 81 centavos in July 2025

The Purchasing Power of Peso (PPP) in Leyte remained at 81 centavos in July 2025. In contrast, the PPP in the region increased to 81 centavos in July 2025, up from 80 centavos in June 2025. The 81 centavos purchasing power of peso in Leyte indicates that the same basket of goods and services worth 81 pesos in 2018 (base year) is worth 100 pesos during the reference period.

TECHNICAL NOTES

Rebasing of the CPI is necessary to ensure that this barometer of economic phenomena is truly reflective of current situation. Consumer taste, fashion and technology change over time causing the fixed market basket of goods and services to become outmoded. To capture such changes for a more meaningful price comparison, revision or updating of the fixed market basket, the sample outlets, the weights and the base year had to be done periodically.

BASE PERIOD – refers to the reference period of the index number. It is a period at which the index is set to 100. Current base period is 2018.

COMPUTING THE CPI - The formula used in computing the CPI is the weighted arithmetic mean of price relatives, a variant of the Laspeyres formula with fixed base year period weights.

CONSUMER PRICE INDEX – is a measure of change in the average retail prices of goods and services commonly purchased by a particular group of people in a particular area.

INFLATION RATE – refers to the annual rate of change or year-on-year change in CPI.

MARKET BASKET - refers to a sample of goods and services used to represent all goods and services bought by a particular group of consumers in a particular area.

MONITORING OF PRICES - is to establish baseline information for prices of the items in the base year and monitoring of the prices of the items on a regular basis. Except for Food, Beverage and Tobacco which is monitored on a weekly basis in NCR, price collection is done twice a month. First collection phase is done during the first five days of the month while the second phase is on the 15th to 17th day of the month.

PURCHASING POWER PESO – it is a measure of how much the peso in the base period is worth in another period. It gives as indication of the real value in a given period relative to the peso value in the base period.

RETAIL PRICE - refers to the actual price at which retailers sell a commodity on spot or earliest delivery, usually in small quantities for consumption and not for resale.  It is confined to transactions on cash basis in the free market and excludes black-market prices and prices of commodities that are on sale as in summer sales, anniversary sales, Christmas sales, etc.

WEIGHTS - The weights for the 2018-based CPI were derived from the expenditure data of the 2018 Family Income and Expenditure Survey (FIES). The weight for each item of expenditure is a proportion of that expenditure item to the total national expenditure. The total (all items) national expenditure weights is equal to 100.

SGD. MICHAEL RUDOLPH B. FALLE
(Statistical Specialist II)
Officer-in-charge